FierceOnlineVideo Leaders - Benjamin Wayne, CEO Fliqz

FierceOnlineVideo caught up recently with Fliqz CEO Benjamin Wayne to talk about the white-label online video platform's progress in 2008 and plans for 2009. 

FierceOV: How did 2008 end up for Fliqz, Benjamin? 

Benjamin Wayne: It was a great year for us, and we were very fortunate to experience solid growth throughout. Fliqz grew revenues by more than 30 percent in the fourth quarter, which is the eighth-consecutive quarter of growth for the company. We added some major customers, like WebMD, Monster.com, and T-Mobile, and we continued to refine our feature set and technology. 

FierceOV: Where do you think 2009 has in store for the online video industry? 

Wayne: I think that it's going to be a critical year for online video. I think we saw the uptake of online video in the consumer space in 2007 with YouTube and other user-generated video sites gaining huge audiences. I think 2008 was the year media companies really adopted online video across the board, and I think 2009 will be the year we see online video move into the mass market. It's emerging as part of a natural evolution in content and the capacity to support it from text, to pictures, to video. I think two to three years from now most businesses will have incorporated online video into their web presence. 

FierceOV: What are some ways that such wide adoption can be made possible? 

Wayne: I think the way online video solutions are marketed needs to change to reflect the shift in who is making the purchasing decision. Where your traditional buyer was a video distributor or engineer with technical expertise, now you see sales and marketing employees making these buys. You have to have a product that someone with limited expertise can implement and use without problems. Also, the pricing needs to reflect the budgets of small businesses.

FierceOV: What are some roadblocks you think could hinder that progression? 

Wayne: I think an important stakeholder in the development of online video, the web developer, has largely been left out to this point. Many of our small and medium business clients use web developers to craft their web presence, and until tools and packages are made open to them, I think we are losing some potential for advancement. I also think existing video standards are too monolithic; we want to lead a push for more open standards. I'm also concerned about the CDNs having to move out of their traditional space as that market becomes commoditized. I think they'll move into the application layer, and that will be more competition for a limited amount of budgets. 

FierceOV: What are some of your goals for Fliqz in 2009? 

Wayne: Our main goals are passing into profitability in 2009 and expanding our offering into different forms of content.

FierceOV: Are there any specific verticals where you're seeing particularly strong traction with your online video offering? 

Wayne: We've seen good uptake in personal care, education, smaller print publishers migrating online, faith and religious organizations and geo-destination sites. We had strong traction in automotive and travel but the recession has slowed the uptake from those verticals significantly.